01 To Set Before They Rise
02 Floods of Colour
03 Across the Skies
04 Things Weren't Always This Way
05 Leaving Them Only
06 To Drift and Fade
Things Weren't Always This Way is yet another stop on the ceaselessly evolving path of Ben Woods' creativity. Ben takes neo-classical minimalism to an entirely new level by blending, reversing, and layering pianos and other instruments to capture a surreal snapshot of his own psyche.
The album is as serene as it is sublime and the title track captures its essence with heavily layered harmonies and swirling ambiance, leaving the listener to be slightly caught off guard by the uneasy tension of Leaving Them Only, which only serves to strengthen its impact.
As he mentions in the liner notes, the album was created with something of a balance in mind. Each track can be reversed by the listener (using Audacity or something similar) to create a completely new listening experience. I personally encourage everyone to give this a shot because the reversed tracks stand quite strongly on their own and allow the listener to experience the album more thoroughly.
1 Miniature 1
2 Miniature 2
3 Miniature 3
4 Miniature 4
5 Miniature 5
6 Miniature 6
7 Miniature 7
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9 Miniature 9
